For our 1st post, we are extremely honoured to have been granted permission by the family of the late, great Trevor Kletz to publish extracts from his Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) book “An Engineer’s View of Human Error”.
This is a perfect example of how our familiar, accessible & adaptable cards VISUALIZE KNOWLEDGE & OPERATIONALIZE WISDOM – in this case from the undisputed “Godfather of Process Safety” and “Founding Father of Inherent Safety”. In this book, Professor Kletz uses a variety of cartoons (previously appearing on a page-per-month ICI calendar) to convey key human error messages via “The Adventures of Joe Soap and John Doe”.
JOE SOAP makes frequent mistakes – he takes the wrong action as he has not been told what is the right action.
JOHN DOE makes the little slips we all make from time to time – we could tell him to be more careful, or we could make simple changes to plant design or methods of operation, to remove opportunities for error.
The theme of the book is …
“Try to change situations, not people”
… and reflects one of his most famous quotes:
“People were saying that most accidents were due to human error … it’s a bit like saying that falls are due to gravity”
Trevor frequently used cartoons in his books to help embed his messages – however, using another of his famous quotes …
“There’s a saying that Organisations have no memory: only People have memory”
People’s memories are fluid and, despite the wealth of experience & insight in his (and other) books, it’s an ongoing challenge to retain and respect these values when immersed in an environment of stress & distractions.
Our cards are designed to be memorable, to preserve this INTELLIGENCE in the Hearts and Minds of all Stakeholders, so it can be applied in times of need.
We firmly believe, again from a perhaps lesser-known quote from Trevor, that …
“Accidents are not caused by a lack of knowledge, but by a failure to use the knowledge that is available”
Click the book image below for more information and/or contact us to discuss how to collate YOUR knowledge & communicate YOUR wisdom.
Like all other cards, bowties & digital platforms; these can be translated into a variety of international languages.
Please visit our Options page to discover what customisation is available to make these even more familiar to your stakeholders.
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